Philippines regulator plans full retail power choice by 2031

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Philippines retail power choice 2031

Highlights

ERC plans to lower the retail competition threshold from 100 kW to 50 kW in 2027, 30 kW after 2028, and remove it entirely by 2031.
Success of full retail power choice depends on national rollout of Advanced Metering Infrastructure and a centralized metering data hub by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines.
ERC's new threshold cut from 500 kW to 100 kW recently opened the market to about 12,000 additional commercial and industrial users as of August 2026.

Roadmap for wider electricity market access

As reported by BusinessWorld Online, the Energy Regulatory Commission is developing a five-year roadmap that will reduce the eligibility threshold for the retail competition and open access program from the current 100 kilowatts between 2027 and 2031. The regulator says the goal is to give every Filipino electricity end-user, from large factories to households, both the right and the practical means to choose a supplier by the end of that period.

The ERC recently cut the threshold from 500 kW to 100 kW, a move that opens the market to an estimated 12,000 mid-sized commercial and industrial users. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, the regulator is tasked with lowering the minimum electricity demand needed for consumers to enter the competitive retail market.

ERC Chairman Francis Saturnino C. Juan says the next step targets a 50 kW threshold in 2027, with that level staying in place through 2028 to give the industry time to adjust. If earlier stages meet performance targets, the threshold is then lowered to 30 kW, extending access to small commercial establishments, bakeries and large households, before the remaining threshold is removed in 2031.

Metering and consumer protections shape rollout

The ERC says broader contestability depends on new market infrastructure as much as on lower thresholds. It plans to strengthen protections for small contestable customers and pursue a national Advanced Metering Infrastructure rollout to support switching by millions of smaller users.

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, which operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, will establish a centralized metering data hub designed to serve as a single neutral platform. The regulator says the market's main operational challenge at mass scale is customer and consumption data, including identifying each connection point, retailer, meter provider and interval usage.

By 2028, the central platform is scheduled to launch initial registry services and the first batch of smart meters is due to be deployed. Installations are then set to accelerate in 2029, when pilot programs in condominiums, subdivisions and housing cooperatives aim to let groups of residents pool demand and switch suppliers collectively.

As of August 2026, 2,692 contestable customers and 311 retail aggregated groups had already switched suppliers under the RCOA framework. The ERC says the success of full retail choice depends less on how quickly thresholds fall than on the readiness of smart meters, the data hub, metering services, retailer finances and household-level consumer protections.

Our earlier article on planned Philippine sovereign bond reforms and index inclusion explained how standardizing peso government bond pricing and joining a major emerging-markets bond index could improve liquidity and broaden the investor base. It also noted that these financial-market gains are not automatic and would need to be reinforced by fiscal credibility and wider structural reforms—such as better infrastructure and lower operating costs, including electricity—to translate into real business investment and productivity growth.

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